Army Corps steps up performance-based budgeting
Over the next five years, the Army Corps of Engineers' civil works branch will focus on reducing a backlog of construction projects and evaluating program performance, according to a strategic plan published last week.
The Corps is responsible for civil projects falling under nine main categories. In a strategic plan for fiscal 2004 through fiscal 2009, officials said they have decided to emphasize work in three areas: improvement of navigation channels on inland waterways, reduction of flood and coastal storm damage, and protection and restoration of the environment.
Corps officials will ask lawmakers to stop funding projects "whose main purpose does not fall within the three main mission areas." The strategy also calls for Congress to rescind authorizations of navigation projects on waterways with "extremely low commercial use."
The Corps will focus on completing existing construction work before taking on new civil projects. Officials will only seek funding for new projects "that provide a very high net economic or environmental return to society relative to their cost," the plan says.
These strategies will help the Corps devote available resources to reducing a backlog of civil construction work, Corps officials said. In addition, the Corps will fine-tune performance measures and use them to rate and rank projects in each of the nine civil divisions. Those proving most effective will receive "preference" for funding.
"One of my top three priorities is to develop the civil works budget and manage the program based on objective performance measures," said John Paul Woodley Jr., the Army's assistant secretary for civil works, in a statement accompanying the strategic plan. Corps officials developed the five-year goals in conjunction with the Army.
The plan includes a table listing potential measures to evaluate programs and progress toward strategic goals. For instance, the agency will collect statistics showing acres of habitat restored to track success at improving the environment.
Not all of the performance measurements have been finalized, officials noted in the plan. "Work remains to specify many of these objectives in more measurable terms, but we have begun to move concertedly to develop a budget-based performance management system that will allow us to gauge our progress toward objectives more directly," they wrote.
The Corps also hopes to improve efficiency by building stronger partnerships with government agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Geological Survey and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In addition, the Corps hopes to collaborate more with nongovernmental groups and local and state agencies.
Corps officials published the plan in compliance with the 1993 Government Performance and Results Act, which requires agencies to set broad performance targets and publish annual reports demonstrating progress. The act also urges longer-term planning.
On the latest quarterly management scorecard released by Bush administration, the Corps received a red light, the lowest mark, on performance-based budgeting. It also received red lights on competitive sourcing, electronic government and financial management. In human capital management, the Corps earned a yellow light, indicating "mixed results."
Roughly 24,800 members of the Army Corps' 34,600 staff work on civil projects. Others manage military construction, provide real estate services and undertake research and development.